Monthly Archive for December, 2010

by Mark Shulman It is exam season here at Pace Law School, and for me, a time to take stock of the new Land Use and Sustainable Development Track of our LLM in Environmental Law. We launched this program in August, and I believe it is the first to combine these themes. We decided to […]

David Cassuto (x-post from Animal Blawg) Speaking of the Endangered Species Act… This just in: After a thorough review of all the available science, the Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the contiguous United States population of wolverine should be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, the rulemaking to propose ESA protections […]

by Ann Powers The Society of American Law Teachers held its annual conference last week, with the theme “Teaching in a Transformative Era: The Law School of the Future,” and environmental professors and issues were prominent at several panels. Richard Hildreth from University of Oregon and Maxine Burkett from University of Hawaii’s Center for Island […]

by Karl Coplan EPA has just announced the parameters for Phase II of the Hudson River PCB cleanup. The Hudson River is contaminated with PCBs largely due to discharges from General Electric capacitor and transformer plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls plants. General Electric voluntarily performed Phase I of the sediment cleanup — essentially […]

David Cassuto (x-post from Animal Blawg) I would like to say a few more words about the so-called “State Sovereignty Wildlife Management Act and its stated intent to strip wolves of all Endangered Species Act protections. While I have no reason to assume this bill will pass (are you listening, Congress?), the fact that officials […]

by Karl Coplan EPA today sued BP and four other partners in the Deepwater Horizion drilling rig in federal District Court in New Orleans. A link to the Bloomberg News report is here. The action seeks penalties under Clean Water Act section 311, as well as response costs and natural resource damages under the Oil […]

by Daniel E. Estrin Supervising Attorney, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, Inc. Adjunct Professor of Law, Pace Law School How many of us have worked our tails off on a motion or an appeal and then received a ruling from a tribunal that fails to satisfy us that our arguments were even read, much less thoughtfully […]

I have been back in New York for several days but had the good fortune to be personally involved in two interesting side events just before my departure from COP-16. Both events focused on the important issue of climate change ethics and were cosponsored by the Penn State University Rock Ethics Institute and Collaborative Program on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change, the University of Washington, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The goal of these events was to highlight the importance of viewing the international climate change negotiations in a framework of ethics and justice. I was struck by the passion and enthusiasm of the attendees, some of whom were exposed to this issue for the first time. The strong response was not surprising, as climate change presents profound and troubling ethical quandaries that force us to reckon with our humanity.

David Cassuto I am fresh off the plane from Paris (a little snowy but great falafel) where I attended the UNESCO/ISARM Conference, “Transboundary Aquifers: Challenges and New Directions.” ISARM stands for “Internationally Shared Aquifer Resource Management.” The conference provided a fascinating window into the management issues facing transboundary aquifers. As yet, despite the existence […]

by John Nolon The report released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts explains the dramatic uptick in attention sustainable development law now enjoys. Pew reports that private investments in G-20 clean power projects could total $2.3 trillion by the end of the decade (Pew provides interactive graphics with country snapshots and projections for investment and […]